Product Review: Dynamo Illuminator Wind-Up LED Flashlight - as Seen on TV

This is a handcrank flashlight without bulbs and batteries. Great concept!

I saw this and had to have it. I have a bad habit of only very infrequently using a flashlight, then setting it aside. Flashlights are common, you accumulate a lot of them. You buy batteries for those you want to use and they all wind up in a location where you can't find them, often next to those missing odd socks. When you do find them, the batteries are drained, they may even be putting out that icky fluid. The only ones you ever find are the ones you know have dead batteries or no batteries, but they're practical, and you hate to waste, so you don't throw them out....

The blister card ad spells out its qualities: No batteries, no bulbs to replace. Ultra bright, always ready LED flashlight.

Ideal for emergency, home, auto, camping, fishing, and more....Generate light anywhere, anytime....Three ultra bright LEDs....Choose from two levels of brightness with the touch of a button....One-minute wind-up provides up to 1 hour of continuous ultra bright light...unlike bulbs, LEDs are unbreakable.

Instructions are easy: Lift the crank handle, wind the handle clockwise for 30-60 seconds to charge it up, close up the handle, press the one and off button to change light intensity. The device is easy to hold while cranking.

That means click once to get a single LED light, press again to switch off, press again and you get all three LEDs. (Mine malfunctioned from the start, I get two LEDs but it does put out quite a bit of light.

Some things I've noticed.

The Illuminator is easy to crank and looks a bit like one of those cartoon electric shavers chasing people around the house, but no cable, no buzzing, and no hostile intent. Very benign. And not overly large at 6"x3"x3".

I found the light that was produced was quite bright, although not up to a battery-powered flashlight. The first trade-off, but one I can certainly live with.

It does have pretty good output for a few minutes on one crank. Not the one hour as claimed in the advertising, I'm afraid. On one LED, you might get an hour.